Maybe it goes against the spirit of the Olympics, but I think this saying is very apt "all gold medals are equal, but some gold medals are more equal than others." This is why I believe Sebastian Coe and Daley Thompson are our two greatest Olympians ever. Sebastian Coe just edging it as the best.

Maybe it goes against the spirit of the Olympics, but I think this saying is very apt "all gold medals are equal, but some gold medals are more equal than others." This is why I believe Sebastian Coe and Daley Thompson are our two greatest Olympians ever. Sebastian Coe just edging it as the best.

You cannot compare the world wide appeal of rowing to that of something as simple as running. Rowing will never have the competition that Seb Coe had. You can also row at a high level for much longer. Only recently we saw a guy win a bronze 20 years after winning gold. Seb Coe on the other hand was the kind of athlete you see once every few decades. His times were unbelievable. Even now he has the 3rd fastest ever 800 metre time. We are much more likely to see another Redgrave before we see a Coe. Steve Redgrave is probably top 5, but I just don't think Redgrave was as talented as those two or performed at such a high level.

Fast forward till tomorrow .. Lets assume for a moment Federer gets the W in singles finals and let's also assume that Murray carries Robson to Gold in the mixed doubles.

As far as olympics is concerned, are the achievements of Federer and Robson same ?

Why or why not ? Will Federer's achievement deserve more recognition than Robson ?

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go on Pawn Stars, try to sell them 100m sprint and 10m air rifle gold medals. See which one brings in more money. This is representative of public opinion which trumps everything else. Different sports and events have way more prestige than others by a huge margin. Nobody in the history of Earth has ever cared about mixed doubles except for the players playing it (and maybe friends and family)

You cannot compare the world wide appeal of rowing to that of something as simple as running. Rowing will never have the competition that Seb Coe had. You can also row at a high level for much longer. Seb Coe on the other hand was the kind of athlete you see once every few decades. His times were unbelievable. Even now he has the 3rd fastest ever 800 metre time. We are much more likely to see another Redgrave before we see a Coe.

A silver in singles competition, to me at least, seems much better than getting a gold in the joke event that is mixed doubles. Regular doubles, I guess the gold would be the choice.

Mills Raonic was asked whether he would prefer a silver medal in singles or a gold in mixed doubles, he said silver medal in singles

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It is almost conflicting with the spirit of olympics when athletes choose only to pursue singles than doing doubles / mixed doubles as well. It is not that if they chose to do just singles they will get a medal for certain. Of course Serena is an exception. If she submitted her entry for mixed, she would have got all 3 golds.

You have to pull for Murray here... In the true spirit, he participated in all 3 events.

In many ways, the top athletes are selfish that they want to focus on 'singles' gold, when there is really a huge chance for them to earn more medals in doubles / mixed.

There are different levels of Gold medals. For example, Gold in the men's 100m sprint is better than a Gold in hammer throwing.

In a way it's a shame that some people can even say that they are an 'Olympian' at all. Some obscure member of a woman's handball team can say that she is an 'Olympian' alongside Phelps, Bolt, or Federer. It doesn't seem right, but that's the Olympics.

Not really true at all. Being more popular means that more children will play it. Of course by pure chance you may get a true superstar of sport doing a rarer event, but its not that likely. The competition is going to be lower. For instance a guy with the right build to be hammer thrower in England is going to be a rugby player, the same for all top rugby countries. I bet that bloke in America might become a NFl player or maybe a pitcher in Baseball.

Not really true at all. Being more popular means that more children will play it. Of course by pure chance you may get a true superstar of sport doing a rarer event, but its not that likely. The competition is going to be lower. For instance a guy with the right build to be hammer thrower in England is going to be a rugby player, the same for all top rugby countries. I bet that bloke in America might become a NFl player or maybe a pitcher in Baseball.

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I meant popular=audience. The competition at that level is still very tough.

I meant popular=audience. The competition at that level is still very tough.

Trampoline: 1 apparatus / AA: 6 apparatus

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Of course it is, but audience=participation. I mean how many kids grow up wanting to win gold medal at the hammer?

I am not saying the competition is not high, but just by the laws of averages the 100 metres is going to have greater competition and greater athletes. Hence why it is respected more. Monfils beating the worlds best paddle player is evidence of that. There is no way a Laura Robson's gold medal is equal to Wiggins.

Fast forward till tomorrow .. Lets assume for a moment Federer gets the W in singles finals and let's also assume that Murray carries Robson to Gold in the mixed doubles.

As far as olympics is concerned, are the achievements of Federer and Robson same ?

Why or why not ? Will Federer's achievement deserve more recognition than Robson ?

Click to expand...

No, their achievements wouldn't be the same, simply because, if your scenario turns out to be correct, Robson will only have one gold medal to Federer's two. Otherwise, a gold medal is a gold medal. Ask Murray. Of course he'll want to win singles first, but if he doesn't and wins mixed doubles, no way he'll be disappointed with that win.

No, their achievements wouldn't be the same, simply because, if your scenario turns out to be correct, Robson will only have one gold medal to Federer's two. Otherwise, a gold medal is a gold medal. Ask Murray. Of course he'll want to win singles first, but if he doesn't and wins mixed doubles, no way he'll be disappointed with that win.